Efficiently Quantifying Egocentric Social Network Cannabis Use: Initial Psychometric Validation of the Brief Cannabis Social Density Assessment

Social environment is a key determinant of substance use, but cannabis-related social network analysis is not common, in part because of the assessment burden of comprehensive egocentric social network analysis. The current pre-registered secondary analysis assessed the psychometric properties (i.e., convergent, criterion-related, incremental validity) of the Brief Cannabis Social Density Assessment (B-CaSDA) in a cross-sectional sample of adults who use cannabis (N = 310) using a survey-based design. The B-CaSDA assesses the quantity and frequency of cannabis use for the respondent's four closest (nonparent) relationships. Ego cannabis use severity was elevated for each additional person who used cannabis at all or daily in the individual's social network. B-CaSDA indices (i.e., frequency, quantity, total score) were positively correlated with cannabis consumption, cannabis use severity indicators, and established risk factors for harmful cannabis use. B-CaSDA indices also discriminated between those above and below a clinical cutoff on the Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test-Revised (CUDIT-R). Finally, in omnibus models that included common risk factors for cannabis use severity, the B-CaSDA quantity index contributed additional variance when predicting CUDIT-R total score, and B-CaSDA frequency contributed additional variance in predicting the CUDIT-R quantity-frequency subscale. The results suggest that the B-CaSDA has the potential to expand social network research on cannabis use and misuse by increasing its assessment feasibility in diverse designs.